Live the life you want, in the time you have.

So, one of my good friends has always wanted to go on a road trip to be the first people in the US to see the New Year, a la that Subaru Outback commercial from a few years back, minus the camping, but I’m sure plus the windchill.

Well, consider it done, as a group of us have booked a little cabin at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse, in exotic Lubec, Maine, which happens to be the Easternmost town in the United States. We will drive up there for New Years, and according to the plan, arise (or stagger out in a frozen drunken stupor) at sunrise and boom, we will be the first Americans to greet 2011 on home soil. At first I was skeptical, but that damn commercial does grow on you, and I think it’s actually a pretty cool idea. We will be spending two nights up there over New Years in a stand alone cabin, with heat and plumbing for the whopping price of $200, total. I have done all the conventional New Year’s, crowded clubs, dive bars, house parties, I even watched the ball drop in Times Square a few years ago, but I might be most excited for this trip, even though he will only be away a few days, I really feels like I’m planning for an adventure, could be because I have been stocking up on long underwear like some sort of ice age extremist, but isn’t that part of the fun?

And if the cabin in the woods wasn’t enough excitement for you, I know it wasn’t for me, courtesy of Anderson Cooper’s AC360 Blog, I found this little gem about Eastport, Maine, a mere bay or frozen tundra drive away from Lubec:

2010 could not have started in a better way than with the people, and one very large sardine, of Eastport, Maine.

I joined 150 residents and tourists in downtown Eastport to ring in the New Year with the dropping of a Maple leaf at 11 p.m. and the dropping of a sardine at midnight.

They were both lowered from the third story window of the Tides Art Institute and Museum which puts on the event. The maple leaf is for the town’s Canadian neighbors and the sardine represents the history of fishing and canning in Eastport.

Smiles and the sounds of “Oh Canada” and “Auld Lang Syne” filled the night air as families and neighbors filled the streets. This southerner was met with open arms and open hearts by the folks of Eastport.

For anyone looking for a unique experience to ring in 2011, put Eastport, Maine and The Great Sardine and Maple Leaf Drop at the top of your list.

So, what’s the moral of the story kids, it’s fun to do something a little bizarre once in a while. Yea, I might freeze my ass off (I’ve been stockpiling long underwear from various REI and EMS sales), but how many people actually go out and greet the New Year? And I certainly don’t know anyone who has counted down a sardine drop. I, of course, will provide an update on this trip after the new year, complete with pictures from my new camera (!), and give a breakdown of time off and costs. But, for one day off work, and $50 bucks for two nights of accommodations, its looking to be an excellent use of time and money.

Don’t forget to stock up on tax-free booze in NH on your way up to Lubec! Sounds like an exciting trip. I will be in Kolkata, India…so I will be experiencing NYE 10.5 hours earlier and about 80 degrees warmer than you…but definitely NOT on American soil!

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